News

Law Society’s Code for Completion

Is it time that the Law Society updated and republished the Law Society’s Code for Completion?

Following the decision in Edward Wong Finance Company Limited v. Johnson, Stokes and Master [1984] A.C. 1296, the Law Society introduced clause 4(ii) of the code to require the seller’s solicitors to undertake on completion to have authority of the proprietor of every mortgage or charge to be redeemed to receive the sum needed to repay the charge. This was introduced to provide protection to a buyer’s solicitor against a negligence claim where he/she had released the completion money to a seller’s solicitor who, […]

CPSEs – Land Registry ID rules

More changes to the CPSEs – this time to the STER form, to deal with the new Land Registry ID requirements to be introduced next Monday (10th November) in relation to applications on forms AP1, DS2 and FR1. See

November 2008 property update

The November edition of the Commercial Property Information Update has been published on this website.

If you are a subscriber (and you are logged in) you can access the update by clicking on CPI Update – November 2008 and opening the attachment.

The November 2008 issue of the CPI Update contains:

Case law commentary on:

• The House of Lords decision in Scottish & Newcastle plc v Raguz, relating to default notices and section 17 LTCA 1995
• Risegold Ltd v Escala Ltd – the extent of an easement
• Chinnock v Hocaoglu – tendering the correct amount to complete
• Hutchison v B&DF […]

Sale of house competitions

Do you have a client who is thinking of selling his or her house by way of a competition? Read this first: http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/productsandservices/practicenotes/housecompetitions/1436.article

*Postscript: See also a news article appearing in The Times, Saturday 15th November: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article5158546.ece

Scottish & Newcastle plc v Raguz

Happily, yesterday, the House of Lords, by a majority of 3-2, overturned the inconvenient decision of the Court of Appeal in Scottish & Newcastle plc v Raguz [2008] UKHL 65 – thereby taking away minor awkward estate management issues for landlords.

See http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKHL/2008/65.html. This case will feature in the November issue of the CPI Update, to be published at the end of this week.

VAT implications where a house-builder temporarily lets (2)

A short while ago, we alerted you to the Revenue’s view on the VAT treatment of a house-builder who, in the current climate, alters the nature of its business from the sale of houses (zero-rated supplies of new dwellings), to the short-term letting of houses (exempt supplies). The Revenue allows the application of a de minimis rule to ascertain if the level of partially-exempt activity affects VAT recovery. See http://www.propertypsl.co.uk/node/169 and the link from that page.

However, it seems that some house-builders do not wish to concern themselves with the partial-exemption de minimis test (and the possibility of incurring […]

Land Registry identification rules – new Practice Guide published

An important new Land Registry Practice Guide has appeared on the Land Registry’s website:
LRPG 67 Evidence of identity – conveyancers. This guide provides an explanation of how the Land Registry intends applying its new identification procedures – coming into force on 10th November 2008.

Under these procedures, to facilitate registration of a transfer, lease, surrender, charge or discharge (subject to limited exceptions) the applicant’s conveyancer must provide details, on Form AP1, DS2 or FR1, of the conveyancer acting for the other parties to the document to be registered. Where a party is not represented by a conveyancer, the applicant’s […]

More EPC Guidance

One is losing track of the range of publications issued by the DCLG in relation to the Energy Performance of Buildings regulations. A new one is published today entitled “Requirements for energy performance certificates (EPCs) when marketing commercial (non-domestic) properties for sale or let.” It is a short document, supplementing the main guidance (see http://www.propertypsl.co.uk/node/152) and it mainly focuses on the timing of the need to produce an EPC when marketing property for sale or let. You can read it by clicking on New EPC Publication. Indeed, you can click through to all DCLG publications on DECs and EPCs (for […]

New content on the website

New content on the website includes:

• A precedent Report on a Lease for use, primarily, as an annexure to a report on title;
• A precedent deed of covenant for use where restrictive and/or positive covenants are to be entered into non-contemporaneously with a land transfer;
• A service charge limitation clause for use by tenants to limit the property costs they are prepared to contribute to through a service charge;
• A surrender-back clause for use by landlords wishing to restrict a tenant’s ability to assign without first offering to surrender the lease;
• Updated Guidance on EPCs;
• A Development Agreement Drafting Guide.

Just click on the […]

Banking crisis – undertakings

The Law Society has, today, issued a Banking Crisis Practice Note.

The note is brief, but includes comment on the giving and accepting of undertakings in light of the banking crisis. It reminds lawyers that: “If you have made any express undertakings to pay money, you must honour this even if the bank has collapsed…You should not attempt to limit the extent of your liability to honour undertakings.”

However, slightly contradicting itself, the note says: “Some solicitors have asked whether they can offer qualified undertakings. Solicitors are free to negotiate the terms of their undertakings, where this is in the best […]

EPCs when marketing homes for sale or let

Information overload? Another EPC guidance note appears on the DCLG website: Requirements for energy performance certificates (EPCs) when marketing homes for sale or let.

This guide describes the scope of the EPC requirements of the Energy Performance Regulations when homes are being sold or let. It reminds property professionals that, for marketed sales of homes, estate agents are normally responsible for producing the HIP, but the seller remains responsible for the EPC. Hence, if a HIP does not contain an EPC, both the seller and its estate agent can be issued with penalty notices under the respective regulations.

On lettings, the Guidance […]

CPSE updates

The CPSE general enquiries were updated last week – to version 2.9. You can link to the enquiries by clicking on CPSEs. The changes are minor, involving a new Enquiry 19 (on capital allowances, to reflect changes to the allowances available following successive Budgets) and the addition of a new Enquiry 29.3 which requests information to deal with the SDLT implications of “abnormal” rent increases. There are also updates to the guidance notes in relation to the lifespan of EPCs. Property PSL Standard Replies have been updated accordingly.

The LR decision to dispense with watermarked paper…

As mentioned in this month’s CPI Update, the Land Registry is to dispense with watermarked paper for hard copy official copies. A Practice Bulletin now appears on the Land Registry website. We can learn from it that the decision to dispense with the paper has been prompted by the supplier of the paper having gone into administration. This led the Land Registry to review its policy on watermarks. There is no rule that states official copies must be on watermarked paper. The Bulletin asks the obvious question: “Don’t watermarks prevent fraud?” The answer is: “While they may […]

October 2008 property update

The October edition of the Commercial Property Information Update has been published on this website.

If you are a subscriber (and you are logged in) you can access the update by clicking on CPI Update – October 2008 and opening the attachment.

The October 2008 issue of the CPI Update contains:

Case law commentary on:

• Margerison v Bates – restrictive covenants, and the need for consent to build
• William Page & Co. Ltd v BNP Paribas – options to renew; conditions for exercise
• Halifax plc v Curry Popeck – land registration; priority of interests
• Fowles v Heathrow Airport Ltd – 1954 Act grounds of […]

Bar-coded SDLT returns

Time is running out for those who do not file SDLT returns on-line. From 1 November 2008, no SDLT returns with barcodes (generated by some commercial software products and the HMRC CD-ROM) will be accepted by HMRC. Any received after that date will be returned with a rejection letter, explaining that the return is no longer valid. The taxpayer would instead need to use the on-line service, or the hard copy tax form. See End of bar-coded SDLT returns.

EPCs – holiday lets?

It is “EPC day” on Wednesday, and many questions are arising. If you let out a holiday home, is an EPC required? Government Guidance states that an EPC is not required for holiday lets. In the DCLG Guidance paper “Energy performance certificates for dwellings in the social and private rented sectors: A guide for landlords” (see EPC Guide for Rentals ) there is a Q&A section at the back which reads: “Q. Will an EPC be needed for holiday accommodation? A. If the agreement between the parties expressly allows for a short period of holiday occupation only and no […]

Accepting monthly rent payments

Tomorrow is Michaelmas, 29 September – the next quarter day under the majority of commercial leases in England and Wales. In the midst of an economic crisis, as huge rental payments fall due, landlords are increasingly being requested to accept monthly instead of quarterly payments from tenants. See, for example, the recent press coverage of the plight of the furniture retailer MFI (click on: MFI article in The Times in which MFI are reportedly seeking permission to convert to monthly rent payments.

This month’s Commercial Property Information Update (CPI Issue 61 – October 2008), to be published on 29th September, contains […]

Selling property in a poor market?

Sellers are doing their utmost to shift property in the current market. House builders and private sellers are using inventive ways in which to offload property. For example:

• Lottery sale or raffle? Sell tickets at £25 a go. 46,000 tickets will get you to your asking price of £1.15m. But is it legal? There is a useful article in today’s Times about the legality of such a lottery sale. See http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/property_and_mortgages/article4790809.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=989864
• Guarantee against resale loss? Barratt Homes advertised recently that it is offering home buyers what appears to be a form of insulation against falling property values. If a house is sold […]